Tags
1960s, 1970s, Americana fantasy, ghost story, Gothic America, Groovy Era, Haunted America, haunting, hitchhiking, magic realism, Midwest Horror, modern fantasy, Prairie Horror, Road Crawl, Road Trip, Roadcrawl, Roadtrip, Seventies, Sixties, Small Town Horror, Southern Gothic, spirits, Urban Fantasy, Urban Legend, Weird America
Not everyone who travels the Uncanny Highway does so in their own vehicle. During the Groovy Era of the 60s and 70s, it was actually quite common for young people to set out on road-trips equipped only with hope – and whatever would fit in a backpack.
The following tables let PCs be hitchhikers themselves, thumbing rides from town to town. The tables are broken down by the apparent gender of the visible hitcher, and number of people who appear to want rides.
See also Hitchhikers of the Uncanny Highway, to define the characters waiting to be given rides by PCs with vehicles.
Table 1a: Hitchhiking Result – Lone Female Hitcher
|
d20 |
You are waiting for 1d20 minutes before you are offered a ride by… |
|
1 |
a lone biker. |
|
2 |
a lone female biker. |
|
3 |
a biker riding with his gang. |
|
4 |
a lone man in a convertible. |
|
5 |
a lone woman in a convertible. |
|
6 |
a lone man in a two seat sports car. |
|
7 |
a lone man in a muscle car. Roll on Table 2. |
|
8 |
a painted and decorated bus. d6: Bus is full of… 1 – 2 = hippies, 3 – 4 = Jesus Freaks, 5 – 6 = Hare Krishnas. |
|
9 |
a bus full of musicians on tour. |
|
10 |
a lone man in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
11 |
a couple in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
12 |
a lone man in a sedan. Roll on Table 2. |
|
13 |
a lone woman in a sedan Roll on Table 2. |
|
14 |
a couple in a sedan. Roll on Table 2. |
|
15 |
a lone male trucker in a Semi. Roll on Table 2. |
|
16 |
a female trucker in a Semi. Roll on Table 2. |
|
17 |
a couple in a convertible or sports car. Roll on Table 2. |
|
18 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
19 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
20 |
a couple in an RV. Roll on Table 2. |
Table 1b: Hitchhiking Result – Lone Male Hitcher
|
d20 |
You are waiting for 2d20 minutes before you are offered a ride by… |
|
1 |
a lone female biker. |
|
2 |
a biker woman, who is riding with her all-female gang. |
|
3 |
a lone man in a convertible. |
|
4 |
a lone woman in a convertible. |
|
5 |
a couple in a convertible. |
|
6 |
a lone man in a two-seat sports car. |
|
7 |
a lone man in a muscle car. Roll on Table 2. |
|
8 |
a painted and decorated bus. d6: Bus is full of… 1 – 2 = hippies, 3 – 4 = Jesus Freaks, 5 – 6 = Hare Krishnas. |
|
9 |
a lone man in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
10 |
1d4+1 young people in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
11 |
a lone man in a sedan. Roll on Table 2. |
|
12 |
a lone woman in a sedan. Roll on Table 2. |
|
13 |
a couple in a sedan. Roll on Table 2. |
|
14 |
a lone male trucker in a Semi. Roll on Table 2. |
|
15 |
a female trucker in a Semi. Roll on Table 2. |
|
16 |
a couple in a convertible or sports car. |
|
17 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
18 |
a couple in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
19 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
20 |
a couple in an RV. Roll on Table 2. |
Table 1c: Hitchhiking Result – All-Female Group
|
d12 |
You are waiting for 2d20 minutes before you are offered a ride by… |
|
1 |
a biker gang. |
|
2 |
an all-female biker gang. |
|
3 |
a lone man in a station wagon. Roll on Table 2. |
|
4 |
a lone woman in a station wagon. Roll on Table 2. |
|
5 |
a lone male trucker in a Semi with a sleeper cabin. Roll on Table 2. |
|
6 |
a lone man in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
7 |
a couple in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
8 |
a deliveryman whose cargo space happens to be empty. Roll on Table 2. |
|
9 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
10 |
a couple in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
11 |
a painted and decorated bus. d6: Bus is full of… 1 – 2 = hippies, 3 – 4 = Jesus Freaks, 5 – 6 = Hare Krishnas. |
|
12 |
a bus full of musicians on tour. |
Table 1d: Hitchhiking Result – Couple, or Mixed Group
|
d10 |
you are waiting for 3d20 minutes before you are offered a ride by… |
|
1 |
an all-female biker gang. |
|
2 |
a lone man in a station wagon. |
|
3 |
a lone man in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
4 |
a couple in a van. Roll on Table 2. |
|
5 |
a couple in an RV. Roll on Table 2. |
|
6 |
a deliveryman whose cargo space happens to be empty. |
|
7 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
8 |
a couple in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
9 – 10 |
a painted and decorated bus. d6: Bus is full of… 1 – 2 = hippies, 3 – 4 = Jesus Freaks, 5 – 6 = Hare Krishnas. |
Table 1e: Hitchhiking Result – All-Male Group
|
d4 |
you are waiting for 5d20 minutes before you are offered a ride by… |
|
1 |
an all-female biker gang. |
|
2 |
a lone man in a pickup truck. Roll on Table 2. |
|
3 |
a painted and decorated bus. d6: Bus is full of… 1 – 2 = hippies, 3 – 4 = Jesus Freaks, 5 – 6 = Hare Krishnas. |
|
4 |
the tour bus of an all-female band. |
Table 2: Potentially Alarming Situations when Hitchhiking
|
d100 |
You notice… |
|
1 – 50 |
nothing to give you cause for alarm. |
|
51 – 52 |
the decal that says “Gas, Grass, or A*s – Nobody Rides for Free!” |
|
53 |
the decal that says “P**sy Wagon”. |
|
54 |
the vehicle has blacked-out windows. If a station wagon, this is a hearse. |
|
55 |
the bullet holes in the side of the vehicle. |
|
56 |
a snarling dog in the vehicle, which the driver insists is harmless. |
|
57 |
the windshield seems to smeared with dead insects and dirt, to the point where it looks difficult to see out of. |
|
58 |
the engine is emitting smoke. |
|
59 |
the vehicle has a supercharger (intake and blower) emerging from the hood, the rear wheels are dramatically larger than the front wheels, there are flames painted on the side of the vehicle, and the driver is wearing a helmet and jumpsuit. Roll again if vehicle is an RV, |
|
60 |
the doors and hood seem to be from different vehicles, and there are numerous patches of rust paint. |
|
61 |
the outside of the vehicle has numerous stickers threatening the world with hellfire and damnation. |
|
62 |
the outside of the vehicle has numerous stickers with racist symbols and slogans. |
|
63 |
the outside of the vehicle has numerous stickers with Stalinist and Maoist slogans. |
|
64 |
the driver is carrying a pistol in a holster. |
|
65 |
the driver has a shot gun next to them. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are holding the shotgun. |
|
66 |
the driver is in their underwear. If more than one person is already in the car, they are all in their underwear. |
|
67 |
the driver has a swastika tattoo. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they also have similar tattoos. |
|
68 |
the driver seems to be bandaged up. |
|
69 |
the driver insist on knowing if you are a “sinning woman (or man)”, or there are “sinning women (or men)” with you. |
|
70 |
the driver is wearing mirrored sunglasses, and you can see their eyes at all. |
|
71 |
the wires underneath the dashboard have been pulled out, and there is no key in the ignition. |
|
72 |
the window on the driver’s side has been smashed. |
|
73 |
there is a barred partition between the driver and other seats, like in a cop car or city taxi. |
|
74 |
there are numerous empty beer cans in the car. |
|
75 |
the driver has an open bottle of whiskey. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are also drinking from the bottle. |
|
76 |
the driver has a baggie filled with pills next to them. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are holding the baggie. |
|
77 |
the driver’s arms (if visible) are filled with track marks. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they also have track marks. |
|
78 |
the driver has many teeth missing, sunken facial features, and looks like they haven’t slept in two weeks. If more than one person is already in the car, they all look like this. |
|
79 |
the driver’s pupils seem to be fully dilated. |
|
80 |
the interior smells strongly of marijuana, and there are several stubs of recently-smoked joints in the ashtray. |
|
81 |
next to the driver is a mirror or plate encrusted with cocaine. |
|
82 |
there are bloodstains in the back seat / cargo area / truck bed. |
|
83 |
the interior smalls like farts. |
|
85 |
there is a book on U.F.O.s in a seat, and the driver asks “Are they after you too?” If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are reading the book. |
|
86 |
there are numerous books about the coming Apocalypse on a seat. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are reading the book. |
|
87 |
bizarre religious tracts are strewn on the seats. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are reading the tracts. |
|
88 |
a copy of “Quotations from Chairman Mao” is on a seat, along with empty bottles and lengths of knotted rags. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are reading the book, and the bottles and rags are in their lap. |
|
89 |
there are animal bones in the back seat / cargo area / truck bed. |
|
90 |
there is an inverted cross hanging from the rear-view mirror. |
|
91 |
the interior smells like something awful is being covered up with pine-scented air-fresheners. |
|
92 |
there are instant camera photographs of apparently frightened women, strewn on the seats. If there is already a person on the passenger side, they are looking at the pictures. |
|
93 |
there is a length of rope, a roll of duct tape, and some folded plastic sheeting on a back seat. |
|
94 |
the driver insists on taking your picture with an instant camera. |
|
95 |
the diver asks you to wear a certain article of clothing (or piece of jewelry), and calls you by a name that isn’t yours. |
|
96 |
the interior smells like urine. |
|
97 |
the seats look like they are all wet. |
|
98 |
the seats look like they have been slashed and ripped. |
|
99 |
there is also a life-size mannequin in the vehicle. d6: Mannequin is… 1 = dressed as a cowboy, 2 = in women’s underwear and makeup, 3 = undressed, 4 = dressed in a suit, 5 = wearing a Halloween mask, 6 = dressed as Richard Nixon (with a Nixon mask). |
|
100 |
there is no driver, even through the car stopped, and a door opened up for you! |
Table 3: Ride Offer
|
d20 |
The driver (or rider) is willing to take you…. |
|
1 – 5 |
as far as the next town. |
|
5 – 6 |
as far as their own house / trailer / clubhouse on this Section of Highway. |
|
7 – 8 |
as far as the next bar or roadhouse. |
|
9 – 10 |
as far as the next truck stop. |
|
11 – 12 |
as far as the next eatery. |
|
13 |
as far as the next motel. |
|
14 |
as far as the next gas station. |
|
15 |
as far as the nearest amusement park. |
|
16 |
as far as the next roadside church. |
|
17 |
as far as the next drive-in theater. |
|
18 |
as far as the next farm. |
|
19 |
to the next Section of highway, and then they will insist you get out. |
|
20 |
wherever you want to go. |
Table 4: Identity of the Driver
|
d100 |
The driver who gives the ride is actually |
|
1 – 80 |
who they appear to be. If Table 3 was used, the most disturbing implication of the result is true. |
|
81 |
an undercover cop. |
|
82 |
an undercover journalist. |
|
83 |
an undercover private detective. |
|
84 |
an undercover C.I.A. agent. |
|
85 |
an undercover K.G.B agent. |
|
86 |
a cannibal. |
|
87 |
an assassin for hire. |
|
90 |
a terrorist. |
|
91 |
a disguised Extraterrestrial. |
|
92 |
one of the Fae in disguise. |
|
93 |
a Satanic cultist. |
|
94 |
a Witch, Warlock, or Magician. |
|
95 |
a holy Miracle Worker. |
|
96 |
a Psychic. |
|
97 |
an Android. |
|
98 |
a Werewolf (if during the day) or a Vampire (if at night). |
|
99 |
a Ghost, and the vehicle will disappear once the hitcher gets out / off. 50% likely the driver(s) will give the hitcher(s) a prophesy before disappearing. If the vehicle has several occupants, or if the hitcher is picked up by a biker gang, they are all actually Ghosts |
|
100 |
an Angel in disguise. |